Chapter 27

Li Li Zhuiyuan hung up the phone and asked the boss, "How much?"

The boss swallowed with some difficulty; he still felt that this child was just being naughty and putting on an act, but for the sake of caution, he pressed the speakerphone and then pressed redial.

The short redial tone made the boss's eyebrows twitch, and after it connected, the voice of the police dispatcher came through:

"Hello, this is the Tongzhou Public Security Bureau..."

"Snap!"

The boss immediately hung up the phone and looked at Li Li Zhuiyuan in disbelief; he hadn't expected that this child had actually called the police!

"You little brat, what exactly are you doing!"

The boss ran toward the next door as if he had gone mad; he had to go and tip them off, he couldn't let them be caught in the act when the police arrived.

Li Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the telephone; he had originally thought the boss would redial to say, "It was just a child playing around, don't take it seriously, sorry for the trouble."

As it turned out, the boss was so scared after confirming that he had called the police that he hung up directly, never even thinking of that excuse.

However, Li Li Zhuiyuan still placed the phone fee on the counter and took two candies from the jar on the counter as change.

At this time, after peeling the outer packaging of the candy, there was often another layer of sugar coating inside that could be put in the mouth to dissolve, but Li Li Zhuiyuan was still in the habit of picking it off.

By the time the sugar coating was cleaned off and the candy had been in his mouth for a while, the small shop owner had still not emerged from the video hall.

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew that the boss had likely run into trouble inside.

Silently sighing, Li Li Zhuiyuan decided he had better move further away.

After the cars on the road passed, he crossed the road to the other side, but still felt the straight-line distance was too close, so he walked a long way to the west and stopped in front of a bicycle repair shop.

From here, he could watch the situation at the video hall across the road, and at the same time, when the police arrived, they would pass by his side first.

Not long after, Li Li Zhuiyuan saw a police motorcycle drive over, followed by a police car.

The two vehicles stopped in front of the video hall, and six police officers in uniform got out; four went in through the front door, and two went around to the back of the shop.

The arrival of the police vehicles attracted the attention of many people nearby; some who had come out for a stroll at night and the owners of surrounding shops gathered around to watch the excitement.

Li Li Zhuiyuan did not move closer and remained where he was, quietly waiting for the result.

In less than two minutes, a police officer ran out of the video hall in a panic, with an expression of disbelief on his face.

Li Li Zhuiyuan's heart skipped a beat: Could it be that even the police officers had run into trouble?

However, seeing that the police officer went to the police car to pick up the walkie-talkie and started talking, and then another police officer walked out of the video hall behind him...

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew clearly that the miasma had been broken.

In "The Record of Subduing Demons on the Righteous Path," there is a separate volume dedicated to "miasma," which generally refers to the special environment formed after a dead person lingers in a certain place.

That volume recounts many methods for investigation, analysis, and breaking the situation.

However, it was clear that in Wei Zhengdao's era, there were no telephones, nor were there people's police.

Soon, reinforcements arrived in wave after wave; among them was a middle-aged police officer in plain clothes with a chin full of dark stubble, who scanned his surroundings quickly after getting out of the car.

Although it was inappropriate to use such vocabulary to describe a police officer, this man gave Li Li Zhuiyuan the feeling of a hawk's gaze, because his eyes were too sharp.

What made Li Li Zhuiyuan even more surprised was that the other party didn't go to the video hall, but instead pushed through the crowd in front of him, seemingly intending to walk toward his side.

But this action of his was interrupted by the shouting of his colleagues behind him, and he had to turn back.

At this time, the people from the video hall were being brought out one by one.

Each of them looked limp, stumbling and likely to fall when walking, yet their faces were flushed and they were shaking their heads violently.

The middle-aged police officer walked up, grabbed one person's arm, and pushed his fingers up the person's forearm, looking very much like a classic massage technique for pushing the forearm.

Immediately, he let go of that arm and grabbed the second and third, performing the same action.

"Tan Dui, what's wrong?"

Tan Yunlong shook his head and said, "It doesn't look like they're high."

As soon as these words were spoken, many of the surrounding police officers showed expressions of astonishment.

To be honest, at first, it was just a relatively simple case of cracking down on prostitution and the dissemination of obscene materials, but after the colleagues who responded to the scene checked it out, they immediately reported it excitedly.

Then, the entire station was in an uproar.

Who could have imagined that in this township area, they could suddenly catch a den for group drug use.

Tan Yunlong knew what his colleagues were thinking, and for now, he could only say, "This is just my personal judgment; take them back to the station first, and then ask the town health center to send medical staff over for an examination."

"Yes, Tan Dui."

In fact, Tan Yunlong himself wasn't quite sure, because the performance of this group of people was truly too similar.

Soon, everyone in the video hall was brought outside.

Li Li Zhuiyuan saw Lei Zi and Pan Zi among them; they weren't afraid of the police at all, but were talking to themselves and high-fiving from time to time.

The two women who worked part-time in the video hall were the same, actually taking the initiative to chat and laugh with the police officers beside them.

Even a blind person could see that something was wrong with this kind of behavior.

Additionally, Li Li Zhuiyuan noticed that Brother Bao, who was behind that woman, was gone.

But where Brother Bao had gone, Li Li Zhuiyuan did not know, nor could he find him.

Next, they were taken into police cars one by one, and the video hall, as well as the small shop next to it, were sealed off by the police.

Originally, the report call had come from the small shop, which would be known upon investigation, but the small shop owner himself was now twisting the most violently; after getting into the police car, he kept making faces against the car window.

Perhaps it was because he was the last one to go in and was currently at the height of his excitement.

Li Li Zhuiyuan looked around, feeling somewhat puzzled; why hadn't Brother Lu Runsheng returned yet?

Just then, a pedicab was parked there watching the excitement; Li Li Zhuiyuan walked over, got in, stated the location of the town health center, and asked for the price.

After the pedicab driver quoted the price, Li Li Zhuiyuan suddenly realized that because of the phone call earlier, he had naturally switched to Mandarin and hadn't switched back to the dialect, so he asked for the price again in Nantong dialect.

The pedicab driver gave a sheepish smile and quoted a price that was half of the previous one.

Arriving at the town health center and walking in, before Li Li Zhuiyuan could ask Mei Sister where Lu Runsheng and the others were, he saw two police officers already walking in front.

He followed them and soon found a quiet ward; outside the ward on a bench, Lu Runsheng was sitting quietly.

The police pushed the door open and went in, while Li Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Lu Runsheng, gently nudged him, and asked:

"Brother Lu Runsheng, what are you doing sitting here?"

Lu Runsheng raised his head: "Xiao Yuan..."

After communicating, Li Li Zhuiyuan learned what had happened after they were sent to the hospital.

First, Brother Bao's rescue failed, and he was declared dead.

Upon hearing this news, Mei Sister fainted on the spot.

After the old man with the pedicab arrived at the hospital, he left directly.

Therefore, Lu Runsheng was asked by the health center staff to stay behind to pay the fees, but Lu Runsheng had no money in his pocket, so he could only sit here as a "hostage."

He thought that once Mei Sister woke up and clarified things, he could leave; it was just that Mei Sister had been unconscious for a bit too long.

Li Li Zhuiyuan took the initiative to push the door open and go in to find the police; in the ward, Mei Sister was lying on the hospital bed, surrounded by two uniformed police officers and one in plain clothes.

This plainclothes officer had arrived first; Li Li Zhuiyuan hadn't known beforehand, and if he had, he might have hesitated before coming in, because the other party was the one who seemed to have noticed him at a glance in the crowd.

Li Li Zhuiyuan first found the two police officers and explained the situation, stating that his friend was just doing a good deed and shouldn't be entangled in such subsequent trouble.

After the police understood the ins and outs, they took the initiative to communicate with the health center staff, and soon, Lu Runsheng was informed by the health center that he could leave.

"Great, I can finally go home and eat!"

Lu Runsheng was starving and couldn't wait to carry Li Li Zhuiyuan on his back and run home.

But a voice from behind came at this moment: "Little friend, wait a moment."

Tan Yunlong walked up to Li Li Zhuiyuan, bent down, and looked at the boy seriously.

"Little friend, you were the one who called the police, right?"

The feedback from the dispatcher was that the caller was a boy; after Tan Yunlong arrived at the scene, he immediately captured Li Li Zhuiyuan's presence.

How should he put it? When everyone else was crowding forward to watch the excitement, a person standing alone and quietly on the periphery with an excellent view was even more abrupt; plus, the boy's friend had sent the video hall owner and his wife to the hospital—connecting all these things together, it wasn't a coincidence.

"Yes, that's right, Uncle Police, I was the one who called the police."

Li Li Zhuiyuan did not deny it; in front of such a senior police officer, lying really had no cost-effectiveness.

"Why did you call the police?"

"But, shouldn't I have called the police?"

Tan Yunlong was choked up for a moment, and in the end, he could only smile and say: "You should have; you did very well."

"Uncle, can we go home now?"

"Of course you can." Regarding the video hall matter, the specific test results hadn't come out yet, but regardless, the reporter should be protected. "Come, where is your home? Uncle will drive you home; it's not safe for children to walk on the road at night."

"Thank you, Uncle."

Tan Yunlong let Li Li Zhuiyuan and Lu Runsheng get into the car; before driving, he first took the police siren off the roof of the car.

He didn't send Li Li Zhuiyuan directly home either, but drove the car to the village road and stopped.

Li Li Zhuiyuan said goodbye to Tan Yunlong and then got out of the car with Lu Runsheng to walk toward his great-grandfather's house; at the intersection where they were about to turn into the small path, he saw Li Weihan riding a bicycle in a hurry, followed by four uncles, rushing out of the village in a flurry.

Li Weihan's face was full of seriousness; the four uncles were worried, and the other two had livid faces and were still cursing.

"Grandfather, Uncle."

"Xiao Brother Yuan Hou, you go home quickly; Grandfather and your uncles have something to do in town."

Li Weihan couldn't even spare the time to look at or greet his favorite grandson at this moment; the message passed on was simply too shocking:

It was said that Lei Zi and Pan Zi were in town using drugs and had been taken away by the police!

This news was simply a bolt from the blue!

They were currently rushing to the town police station; the two uncles who were muttering "beat this evil obstacle to death" were Pan Zi and Lei Zi's fathers.

Lu Runsheng asked curiously: "Xiao Yuan, what happened?"

"Let's go home first, I'm hungry, Brother Lu Runsheng."

"Right, me too!"

Returning home, Auntie Liu said with some reproach: "Why did you forget the time when you went out to play? We finished eating long ago, and your great-grandfather has also finished eating and gone out for a walk."

However, Auntie Liu still quickly brought out the reserved food, although it didn't look as good as before.

In front of Li Li Zhuiyuan was a bowl, with rice on the bottom and dishes on top; in front of Lu Runsheng was a basin.

Lu Runsheng hurriedly lit the incense, took several large bites in succession, and while chewing, showed a look of intoxication and enjoyment, as if he had finally recovered.

His appearance was even more like someone who had used drugs than the group suspected in front of the video hall.

Qin Li sat down in front of Li Li Zhuiyuan and watched him eat.

Just as he was eating, his great-grandfather returned from his walk and sighed:

"Damn it, why is everyone in the village saying that Pan Zi and Lei Zi joined a gang that sells opium, and their status isn't even low."

Li Li Zhuiyuan almost choked on his rice; while coughing, he sensed a gentle little hand patting his back.

Li Sanjiang sat down, lit a cigarette, and continued: "I really couldn't tell; those two boys usually look very honest in the village, it really is true that you can't judge a book by its cover."

"Great-grandfather, it must be the villagers spreading rumors; how could that be possible."

"That's hard to say. Your grandfather and your uncles have all gone to the police station now.

Xiao Brother Yuan Hou, Great-grandfather must warn you: other things are easy to talk about, but this thing, you must never touch; once you touch it, your life is basically over."

"I know, Great-grandfather."

"By the way, who did you go out to play with this afternoon, playing until so late to return?"

"With Brother Pan Zi and Brother Lei Zi."

Li Sanjiang's face wrinkled for a moment, then smoothed out as he nodded: "Then it must be the villagers spreading rumors."

After dinner, Li Sanjiang went upstairs to wash and sleep; tomorrow he had to get up early to go to the Zhao family's house for a memorial service.

Lu Runsheng went to the well to take a shower, and without drying himself, he couldn't wait to turn on the TV and watch it.

His wet, dripping appearance, combined with the white light projected by the TV, was like a dead person who had just come ashore.

Li Li Zhuiyuan, on the other hand, stood in a horse stance on the terrace.

A Li stood beside him, accompanying him.

After practicing for enough time, Li Li Zhuiyuan stood up straight and let out a long breath; a layer of fine sweat broke out on his body, and at the same time, the fatigue accumulated during the day was greatly relieved.

Liu Yi had been sitting on the terrace cracking melon seeds and enjoying the evening breeze; seeing Li Li Zhuiyuan finish practicing, she couldn't help but laugh:

"What's the use of practicing this? Look at your serious appearance."

"Just consider it radio gymnastics."

This answer caused Liu Yi's expression to freeze; unconsciously, she spat out the melon seed meat and chewed on the shells.

Li Li Zhuiyuan also seemed to realize he had said the wrong thing and made up for it: "I just feel that after practicing this, my body feels much more comfortable, and my spirit is much better; it's very magical." "You are still young, your bones haven't grown yet, so it's not suitable for practicing hard kung fu now."

"Alright, Grandma Liu." Li Li Zhuiyuan's gaze turned to the belt at A Li's waist, "Grandma, this belt of A Li's, wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate?"

A Li was prone to going berserk when encountering strangers or stimulation; giving her a soft sword to carry on her body... that would mean she'd be hacking people.

"Grandma thinks it's quite appropriate; only this belt can match A Li's outfit."

As soon as Liu Yi finished speaking, she saw A Li immediately untie the belt and throw it on the ground, because Xiao Yuan said it wasn't appropriate.

At this, the corners of the old lady's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Li Li Zhuiyuan bent down and carefully picked up the belt; although this thing was very thin and soft, if one applied clever force to it, it would be very dangerous.

"Alright, it's getting late, A Li, you should go to sleep; we'll play together again tomorrow morning."

A Li obediently returned to the room.

Li Li Zhuiyuan apologized: "Grandma Liu, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that in front of A Li."

"Grandma just felt a bit embarrassed, but I'm not so confused that I can't tell good from bad; I know you meant well.

But there's one thing you got wrong; it should be that your great-grandfather told you about A Li. When A Li really has an episode, it doesn't matter whether she has a weapon or not."

"What?"

"Go back to your room; I heard from A Ting that you asked her to buy a lot of things today."

"I asked Auntie Liu to help me buy some homework materials."

"Then go do your homework well; this old woman will go to sleep first."

"Goodnight, Grandma Liu."

Li Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs to the second floor, opened his bedroom, and saw a room full of various materials; the originally empty room suddenly became full and compact.

"Auntie Liu's efficiency is really high."

Li Li Zhuiyuan walked to a cage, inside which was a small black puppy; there were water and food bowls in the cage.

Earlier downstairs, Auntie Liu hadn't mentioned a word; clearly, she was only responsible for helping him purchase them, and as for how to explain it to his great-grandfather later, that was his own business.

Including raising a small black dog.

Logically speaking, a puppy of this age should be the most lively and troublesome, but this puppy was lying diagonally by the edge of the cage, fast asleep.

Even though he had walked up to it, it hadn't even opened its eyelids.

Confirmed, this dog was not suitable for guarding the gate; if he let it guard the gate, it would rest earlier, get up later, and sleep even more soundly than its master.

However, Li Li Zhuiyuan didn't want it for that purpose, but because he needed its blood.

This sounded a bit cruel, but it wasn't; the blood of a virgin black dog appeared very frequently in "The Record of Subduing Demons on the Righteous Path" and was one of the necessities for activating many tools.

But for this thing, one only needed to take one bit of essence, which was just a little blood smeared on it, to use as a catalyst.

Like his great-grandfather performing rituals before salvaging a corpse, splashing a basin of black dog blood... that was actually wrong.

Li Li Zhuiyuan had flipped through "Records of Strange Tales in the Jianghu" and "The Record of Subduing Demons on the Righteous Path" and had never seen any dead person being splashed to death by black dog blood.

And what his great-grandfather splashed didn't seem to be dog blood either; it was something he had mixed with pigments beforehand; what blood he used depended on whether the meat dish at home in the past few days was chicken or pork.

Normally, to ensure strong blood energy, it was most suitable to use black dog blood taken within a month; exceeding that time would greatly reduce the effect.

Each time, a beer bottle cap's amount was enough, then mixed with other things to make something similar to red ink paste; when needed, open the lid of the ink paste, press with a fingertip, and then apply it to the required place.

This amount and frequency had a negligible impact on the dog's health; at worst, give it a big chicken leg to make up for it after taking the blood.

As for the method of raising a virgin dog, it was also recorded in the book and wasn't complicated; it was just feeding it medicine.

There was a prescription in the book that even if shown to an old Chinese doctor, would be considered just a tonic for humans, but if a dog ate it, besides supplementing the dog's body, it would bring a side effect aimed at the dog, which was to greatly reduce its desire in that regard.

If a dog was locked in a dark room and isolated from the outside world, the dog would easily become mentally unstable, and the blood would carry evil energy, making the effect poor.

And simply watching the dog was too energy-consuming, and if it accidentally found an opportunity to go out and break its virginity, you couldn't verify it; when the time came to face a dead person with useless black dog blood, you would be the one who was unlucky, and the cost was too high.

As for castrating the dog once and for all, that was even less advisable; a castrated dog's blood had no essence and was useless.

Therefore, feeding the dog this kind of tonic was the most appropriate; as long as it was fed according to the course of treatment, it would be a proper gentleman even during its mating season.

Wei Zhengdao was a kind-hearted person and even mentioned in the book that when the dog reached three or four years old, one could stop feeding it medicine, grant it freedom, and then look for a new dog to continue taking blood.

As for the dog that had eaten the medicine, it was usually stronger and healthier; the only drawback was that it couldn't engage in dog affairs for those few years.

But after releasing it, it could still possess a vast sky and a wonderful future; just consider it suffering first and enjoying later.

Seeing that the puppy still ignored him, Li Li Zhuiyuan didn't pay any more attention to it and, holding his list, began to "stock" them one by one.

Thanks to Brother Liangliang giving him a sum of money earlier, otherwise, relying on his previous pocket money, buying so many things really wouldn't have been enough.

Plus, this was only the first batch of raw materials, not counting the subsequent experimental loss and processing costs.

At this moment, Li Li Zhuiyuan finally felt the pressure from the economy.

He regretted declining the jade thumb ring that Liu Yi had given him.

After checking that there were no omissions, Li Li Zhuiyuan sat back at his desk and began to draw the design.

The diagrams in the book were relatively sloppy and mostly supplemented by text descriptions; he had to translate them to make it convenient for him to find someone to make them in reality.

This kind of handmade book was truly hard to chew.

Busy until one o'clock in the morning, Li Li Zhuiyuan left the desk, took a shower, and went to bed.

Waking up the next day, he turned his head and saw A Li in a red dress sitting on a chair.

Li Li Zhuiyuan was a bit worried; if he returned to the capital, would he feel lost and unaccustomed when he woke up and couldn't see her in the future?

The puppy in the cage seemed very interested in A Li, facing A Li and scratching the cage with its little paws.

It was just that A Li was different from other girls and couldn't raise any interest in these cute little animals; otherwise, Liu Yi would have probably set up a small zoo for her long ago.

While washing up, he heard people talking on the terrace downstairs; it was Li Weihan and Li Sanjiang.

Li Li Zhuiyuan listened quietly upstairs for a while.

The police had arrested people and brought them back to the station yesterday; after the examination, they found that not a single person had used drugs, but among the four hooligans who had left earlier, the leader in the suit had some involvement with such things.

That guy was originally lying at home when the police came to his door and demanded he go to the station to assist with the investigation; he was so scared that he confessed everything. He was just a small fry who had just found an upstream contact and planned to distribute this to make quick money, and now he had been followed and caught.

As for what was going on with the people in the video hall, the reason given by the police was that the gas valve in the small kitchen at the corner of the video hall wasn't closed properly, causing everyone to suffer from gas poisoning, which led many people to have hallucinations.

Li Sanjiang asked in surprise: "Gas poisoning has this reaction?"

Li Weihan responded: "That's what the police said. After Pan Hou and Lei Hou finished their IVs and returned home, they were normal."

Li Sanjiang had lingering fears: "My goodness, people in the city take such big risks using gas; our earthen stoves are still better."

Li Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs and greeted Li Weihan; Li Weihan stroked Li Li Zhuiyuan's head and took the opportunity to scold Pan Zi and Lei Zi as examples again.

Although they didn't use drugs, running to the video hall to watch that kind of video and being caught by the police for prostitution was shameful enough.

After Pan Zi and Lei Zi finished their IVs and went home, to help them improve their sleep quality, they were severely encouraged by their two uncles with rattan sticks.

However, Li Li Zhuiyuan also heard that Brother Pan Zi and Brother Lei Zi were very loyal; after they got into trouble and were beaten, they stubbornly didn't reveal that he had also gone to the video hall.

After Li Weihan left, Li Sanjiang called Lu Runsheng and pushed the paper offerings to the Zhao family's house, where a funeral was being held today.

Li Sanjiang asked Li Li Zhuiyuan to go with him to eat at the banquet, but Li Li Zhuiyuan refused, using the excuse that he "needed to study at home with peace of mind."

For the rest of the day, Li Li Zhuiyuan was doing manual work in his room, mainly some basic preparation work for materials.

The puppy was also let out of the cage by Li Li Zhuiyuan to run around, but after it was frightened by the coldness suddenly emitted by A Li when it attempted to approach her, it was too lazy to explore anymore and actually returned to the cage to sleep.

Moreover, from last night until now, except for a few "woofs" in the morning to remind him that there was no water in its bowl, it hadn't barked again.

Li Li Zhuiyuan even suspected that even if he didn't feed it that medicine, it might not go out and mess around even after it grew up a bit and possessed that function, because it was too lazy to move.

Originally, Li Li Zhuiyuan only tried to let A Li help him do some simple work, but after discovering that A Li was quick to learn and did it very delicately, he treated A Li as his official partner.

To a certain extent, Li Li Zhuiyuan even had to admit that A Li's manual ability was superior to his own.

The two of them spent the whole day in this atmosphere; the sense of interaction was stronger than when they read books together, it was just that A Li was made dirty.

Before dinner, Li Li Zhuiyuan took a towel to help A Li wipe her hands and face; the dirt on her clothes was hard to deal with.

Just as Liu Yi picked up her chopsticks to eat, she saw the dirty boy leading her equally dirty granddaughter downstairs, and she was so shocked that she almost snapped her chopsticks.

Her granddaughter had a clean-freak habit and needed to stay clean all the time, but after being with this boy, she actually didn't care about these things anymore.

Although she knew rationally that everything was developing rapidly in a good direction, emotionally, as a grandmother, she still couldn't accept it.

Wasn't the scene in front of her just like a daughter raised in luxury suddenly willing to go out and work hard with a poor boy?

Moreover, she wasn't just talking about it anymore.

Liu Yi quickly calmed her emotions; while eating, she also observed that her granddaughter was no longer just bowing her head to eat; she would take a few bites, then look up, look at the boy in front of her, and then show a slight physical sway.

This made the emotions that Liu Yi had finally calmed down appear volatile again... Damn it, this working part-time actually worked.

After dinner, Li Li Zhuiyuan didn't plan to continue working at night and was also worried about tiring A Li; at night, he would just draw new blueprints by himself.

After sending A Li back to the east room, he went upstairs, first stood in a horse stance on the terrace, and after finishing, returned to the room to start drawing.

It was late at night; Li Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the room wanting to wash his face, and on the way, he found that his great-grandfather's bedroom was empty. Hearing the sound of the TV downstairs, he walked down the stairs and saw Lu Runsheng alone, chewing on incense while watching TV.

"Brother Lu Runsheng, where is my great-grandfather?"

"Still drinking at the banquet, I suppose."

Lu Runsheng wasn't suitable for sitting at the table for the banquet, so Li Sanjiang packed a separate portion for him, let him sit in the corner and eat with the incense; after eating, he said hello and returned early to watch TV.

"Oh, I see."

"Xiao Yuan, are you coming to watch TV?"

"No, Brother Lu Runsheng, you watch it yourself, I'm going up."

Returning to the second-floor bedroom, Li Li Zhuiyuan drew a few more diagrams and felt that he had reached his limit for today; seeing that it was past midnight, he could wash up and sleep.

Holding the washbasin and preparing to go to the shower room, he specifically glanced at his great-grandfather's bedroom and found that his great-grandfather still hadn't returned.

Looking downstairs, Lu Runsheng was adjusting the antenna while changing channels.

"Brother Lu Runsheng, Great-grandfather hasn't returned yet; he wouldn't have gotten drunk at someone else's house, would he?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew that his great-grandfather liked to drink, and when attending a banquet, he would inevitably have a good drink.

"I don't know."

"Brother Lu Runsheng, accompany me to take a look; if Great-grandfather is drunk, we'll carry him back."

"Alright."

Li Li Zhuiyuan took out the flashlight and assembled the batteries; the Zhao family's house wasn't far from here, but the night road was hard to walk.

Walking on the country road, when they were almost at the Zhao family's house, they saw that although the tent was still there, the lights had basically gone out, clearly the banquet had long since dispersed.

However, just as they reached the terrace, they saw a light still on under the big tent, and there were three people under the light, still drinking there, one of whom was Li Sanjiang.

Li Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart; it seemed his great-grandfather had met a drinking buddy tonight, actually ignoring the host's clearing of the banquet and stubbornly drinking and chatting with them until now.

At this time, Lu Runsheng couldn't wait to get closer and, from far away, raised his hand and waved, shouting: "Grandfather, they've already cleared the banquet, let's go home too!"

Li Sanjiang heard Lu Runsheng's shout, looked over with drunken eyes, and waved his hand in response: "It's okay, I told the host that I was afraid his children wouldn't find their way home at night, so I'd sit for a while longer; the host was very happy and added cold dishes and reserved more wine for us."

Immediately after, Li Sanjiang began to introduce to the two people he was drinking with: "See, that's my great-grandson; my great-grandson is handsome and smart, very likable. Don't get it wrong, not that silly big guy, that's from Shan Pao's family."

Li Li Zhuiyuan walked to the table, wanting to apologize to his great-grandfather's two drinking buddies, and then take his great-grandfather, who was clearly already drunk, home to rest.

When he walked over earlier, he thought it was because of the dim light that the upper bodies of the two drinking buddies, especially their faces, were hidden in the darkness.

But now that he was right beside them, he still couldn't see their faces clearly; he only felt that these two drinking buddies of his great-grandfather seemed relatively young—could they be friends across generations?

Li Li Zhuiyuan picked up the flashlight in his hand, pretended to swing it unintentionally, and swept it across their faces.

In an instant,

Li Li Zhuiyuan's heart trembled.

Because one of them sitting at the wine table drinking was none other than Brother Bao!

The other person looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him; he only felt he was excessively young, just a bit older than Lu Runsheng.

However, the answer was soon given, because after the flashlight beam swept across their faces, it happened to stop in the center of the mourning hall, on that black-and-white portrait.

The funeral here today was held for him.

And now he was at the table,

eating his own funeral banquet.

(End of chapter)